IRIS

Iris main cast

I just finished watching Iris. Well, I don't really know where to start haha. I will make this short! I really loved this drama :) The action scenes were exciting, there was suspense, adequate plot-twists  and the love story wasn't annoying. In fact, it was really appealing. There wasn't a point where the love story overtook the main plot, and that's exactly what I prefer. 

Basically, this drama is about the National Security Service, where Kim Hyun-Jun (Lee Byung-Hun) and his best friend are recruited into. They were profiled by Choi Seung-Hee (Kim Tae-Hee), and fished into NSS. The love triangle occurs there, but Hyun-Jun gets the girl. One day, Hyun-Jun is given a mission to kill the leader of North Korea. That's when all hell breaks loose. In the mission (which was successful), Hyun-Jun gets injured, and in order to eliminate the risks of exposure, NSS director - Baek-San, orders Hyun-Jun's best friend to kill him. Hyun-Jun feeling betrayed, swears revenge upon NSS and his country. On top of that, due to certain circumstances, he was led into thinking that his girl was dead. 

He then joins forces with North Korea to destroy his own country. He will then be declared a terrorist for some time. After a massive turn of events and as the story unfolds, Hyun-Jun becomes the hero of the day, and we learn about the existence of an organization bigger than one could imagine, named IRIS. Their sole purpose is to prevent the unification of North and South Korea. It seems that their influence penetrates deep into the governmental system, and their resources are unlimited. Until the end, the true identity of IRIS is not shown, and that calls for IRIS 2, which I will definitely be watching. 

Hyun-Jun, together with a little help from Seon-Hwa (North rep) and what was left of NSS, managed to stop the nuclear warfare and the hostage situation. It was weird that they could rest after that, knowing how huge the IRIS organization is. Seeing how they easily eliminate anyone that came along their way, it wouldn't be logical that Hyun-Jun would be allowed to live. Thank God, at the end, they lived up to my expectation :)

Lee Byung-Hun in A Bittersweet Life.

One of the reasons I started watching this drama was because of Lee Byung-Hun. He looks wayyy younger in A Bittersweet Life. That was the first movie which I watched with him in it. I watched a few of his movies, and I really think he is talented, especially in movies that require him to show off his strength, muscles and fighting skills. On top of that, he is really good with the emotional parts as well. Recently I learnt that he was going to play T-1000 in the upcoming Terminator Genisys. After watching the trailer for that, he has officially entered into my list of favorite actors. I hope he pulls of that role well too.

Overall, I really enjoyed this drama, and if you haven't watched it yet, please do so! Review of IRIS 2 will be coming soon, once I'm done watching it. Currently, I'm also watching two other ongoing dramas - Who Are You : School 2015 & Orange Marmalade. Six more episodes for School 2015, and a long way more for Orange Marmalade! See ya! :)

The Suspicious Housekeeper

I just finished watching this, The Suspicious Housekeeper. Lets Dive right into it!

There were 20 episodes, the the plot could be divided into three parts. The story starts of with the death of a mother/wife. The husband then takes care of four of his kids. The first part of the plot was focusing on how the family was coping with the death of a loved one. At that moment, the dad hired a housekeeper. This housekeeper was very suspicious because she doesn't smile and literally interacts like a robot and completely obeys all your commands. The housekeeper was literally apathetic. Although on the outside she lacked compassion and all, but deep down the family and the viewers knew that she had a story to tell. She also in a very weird way, started to actually help them overcome their individuals difficulties. After the death of their mother, each child experienced difficulties differently. The eldest daughter started to search for love elsewhere and almost wanted to have sex with her boyfriend or something (well, Koreans aren't that liberal). The second eldest (son), couldn't focus on his basketball, and started picking fights. The third (son), was being bullied and felt like dying. The youngest daughter (and the cutest), just......lacked love. 

The husband, apparently cheated on the wife, and that was the cause of her (the mother/wife) suicide. But before that, the last person that she met, was with the person he was cheating with (the mistress). The mistress was the one who actually told the wife about it, otherwise she wouldn't have found out. The mistress wanted him all to herself, and told the mother to stop being an obstacle. Drowned with those words, the literally drowned herself in a river. Now, not only the children had to deal with the death, they had a deal with the fact that the cause of their mother's suicide was, their very own father. So the family started to fall apart and they were staying separately. Long story short, the housekeeper, by her twisted methods, brought the family together and they felt very grateful to her for that. It was right then, when they started to get curious as to why she didn't smile and was monotonous all the time. They started asking questions about her past, and tried hard to get to know her, in order to return her favor. 

The second part of the story was focusing on the housekeeper's background story. It was triggered when she saw a man one day (in a restaurant), and started shouting, "Why are you still alive?" It was then that the family became even more curious. When she eventually told them about it, they felt really bad for her. By this time, they already loved her so much that they really wanted to help her. So apparently, her story is that she had a stalker who was in love with her. Of course, she didn't marry him. She married a doctor in Somalia (Somalia because she was on the run from the stalker actually) and had a son. One day, the stalker actually killed the husband and the son by burning their house, when she wasn't at home (well, it was all perfectly planned to be such). But before the restaurant incident, she was thinking he was dead, because he faked his death (because he had leverage over a cop, and the cop helped him fake his death). Now, using that restaurant meeting opportunity, the stalker decides to start going for the housekeeper, but not as the stalker that once liked her, but as the new man he has become (hoping she doesn't recognize his old self, and kill him instantly). So he continuously tries to deceive her by proving he is someone else, but she starts to dedicate her life to prove that he is the same guy as the stalker. She does that by pretending to be his lover, and finally she manages to get a recording of him mumbling the wrong things to his cop friend. The stalker then gets caught and goes to prison.

I never really expected anything much after the bad guy got caught, but then I realized that there were two more episodes to go, which is an usually pattern for Korean dramas. Turns out, the last two episodes (the third part) was the best and most meaningful part. The kids totally love the housekeeper now, and they actually ask her to be their mom. The dad, although doesn't love her, he is trying to do what is best for his kids. This is where Korean dramas differ from most other dramas. They are daring to show the truth and what is right. The children moved on from their mother's death pretty easily due to the distraction and help from the housekeeper. Now they are so much in love with her, that they actually forgot their mother's (dead) birthday. They were so blinded that they actually wanted the housekeeper to be their mom. So again, using her twisted mind gaming techniques, she shows them the truth, that their mother cannot be replaced like that, and on top of that, she needed her own grieving time. To be honest, at one point I became okay with the fact that she can be their mother too. 

In the last two episodes, the ideas that were brought up were really deep. If you move on after a death of the loved one, does it mean you never loved that person who died? If you don't move on, does that mean you feel guilty or is it out of respect? Can you actually ask someone to fill in that position of a mother? If you are worried for a person, you care for that person, you hurt when they hurt - does that equate to love? Does that equate to the love of a mother, and the love of a wife? Her twisted technique to make them realize was to act like she was the evil stepmother (at one point, she wanted to throw the late mother's picture away). She started scolding the youngest daughter, started asking them to do chores, telling them to get out of the house if they don't like it. She drew a very clear line, of what is it to be a mom, and what is it to be a housekeeper. It was because, they were expecting her to be their mom while having the good benefits of a very kind and loving housekeeper that does not discipline them when they do something wrong. If they want someone who only does what they want and makes them happy all the time, what they really want is a housekeeper, not a mom - and it took time for them to realized that, even for me as a viewer. 

The ending was, she left them for a year to grieve for her husband and son (because only recently she found their grave. Her mother-in-law kept that from her as a punishment because she previously thought that the housekeeper and the stalker worked together in the arson). A year later, she returns to them, smiling, as a person that cares for them and loves them, but never as their mom, as it can never be replaced. I really really really enjoyed this drama. It was very exciting. I cried (I actually never do), but the acting was so good, it was moving. All the children did really well, especially the youngest. When she cried, it was so real. The eldest daughter (Kim So-Hyun), I already admired her acting before, in the drama, 'I Miss You' & 'The Moon Embraces The Sun'.

Kim So-Hyun & Kang Ji-Woo

It's definitely a must watch if you enjoy Korean dramas. It's different from the normal couple love dramas out there, because this focused on moving on after the death of a loved one from the angle of a family life, while dealing with affairs and reconciliation. See ya!

Uttama Villain

Just came home from watching this, and I need  to blog about it. Well, obviously it's because I really loved the movie!

Lets get on with the plot before I get sleepy. As usual, my blog is full of spoilers, so...yea. Manoranjan (Kamal), is married with a son, while having an affair with a doctor that is treating his chronic headaches (Andrea, Dr Arpana). He is a famous actor (ironically in the movie as well), and struggles to maintain the work-life balance. As the plot unfolds, we learn that he has Grade IV Astrocytoma and that he had a child with his previous lover (Yamini, who left him). Later on we also learn that Mano & Yamini's separation was somewhat architectured by the people around him for the benefit of his career and mainly its because, his acting career is what he is truly in love with. His marriage was forced onto him by a very possessive woman together with an overly supportive father-in-law. She threatened to kill herself by slitting her wrists if he doesn't marry her.

What he decides to do with his remaining time is to make one last movie that people will remember him for. While the news of his brain tumor was somewhat a cliche, what came afterwards compensated greatly for it. The acting by everyone, except Andrea was really really good. Kamal's manager (who usually annoys me in other movies as a comedian), did really well, and his best scene was during the revelation of the fact that the letter Yamini left for Mano wasn't delivered to him and vice versa. I don't really have to mention about Kamal's acting as I think most people who know him will know that he does his job well. The children, played their parts really well, along with the man Yamini eventually married. He did not come on too hard as a person of vengeance but a person who merely wants to carry out his late wife's will.

I am really impressed with the direction techniques these days. They were able to handle the dual story-lines (I'll get into Kamal's Uttaman character later) well, and for each storyline, the scenes were perfected timed, well sequenced and neat. There were humor here and there, but within the realms of dark humor. The final movie Kamal decided to act in, as his final will was the second storyline that was running parallel with the main plot. It was a metaphorical representation of "in another life", of which I love so much, but I think this is where it lost many of it's viewers. However, this movie has my full support for not always catering for what the general population prefers or what we call, crowd pleasing. 

The palace-sy setting for the character of Uttaman, carried a plot that was very deep.  It portrays a timid man, who from his point of view, escapes death by luck multiple times. However, from the society's point of view and the royals, he is an immortal. Due to some political conflict, he is summoned to the palace to provide the spell for immortality (if there is one) to the King. Many tests were imposed on him to test his immortality, and he survives it every time, with the help and influence of the princess the king was supposed to marry. The tiger was the symbol of death, and riding it in my opinion was a metaphorical representation of how we should live. "Courage is the spell for immortality" as said in the movie explains it all. Along with that, there were multiple references to "acting". When imposed with the problem of the King, he was told to act his way out of it, and in the main plot, at one point, he will also say that he will survive this, by acting his way through. Don't we all do that in life?

I applaud this movie, for its braveness in multiple areas. For those of you who might not understand, this movie is different because most Tamil movies are tied to their culture and practices and they refuse to accept the harsh realities of life. Kissing is viewed as such a private matter that most movies wouldn't dare  show it on screen. In this movie however, they have confidently stepped across the boundary and remained there unafraid and confident. The first challenge was of course the kiss scene (which was just a peck on the lip anyway). The second was about the fact that his son was having a girlfriend at a young age, and not at any moment was that issue brought up in the movie, and it was almost viewed as a norm. Third - the affair. On top of that, she was the doctor treating both her lover and her lover's wife. She felt embarrassed, swallowed the hard truth but went for love anyway. Lastly - the death of Manoranjan (Kamal). That is almost a mortal sin in Tamil movies - to kill the main actor. Although Kamal has died in his previous Leukemia movie (I forgot the title, it was when he was really young), generally Tamil movies don't have the guts to make a significant character kill. Kamal went under anesthesia for the brain surgery, and never came back.

It was rather a lengthy movie, but I was glued to my seat. I was more surprised to see my family members negative reaction after the movie. Anyway, I really enjoy it, and if you enjoy Tamil movies too, you should check it out. See ya!